The Triumph of the Cross

Today the church commemorates the day when St Helena found the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Being the mother of Emperor Constantine, who ended the persecutions in 313AD, Helena was determined to find the abandoned cross on which Jesus was crucified. The feast is also known as  the Exultation of the Cross, or the Finding of the Cross. The excavations actually found three crosses buried in Jerusalem close to Mount Calvary. To verify which was the actual cross of Christ  they asked a sick person to touch each cross.  When he touched the third one, the person was completely healed, and thereby they concluded which was Jesus's cross. The image of the crucifixion, along with the nativity is the most painted subject in the history of art, and every painting is a true meditation on the passion of Christ. This painting reproduced today is by Mathias von Grunewald, and according to my friend and spiritual director Fr Benedict Groeschel, this image represents as close as possible to what the scene at Calvary was like, especially with the tortured body of Jesus on the cross. We adore you o Christ and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.